mgo.licio.us

"The face of the operation is Briatore (referred to exclusively in the film by his colleagues and angry, chanting detractors as "Flavio"), an anthropomorphic radish who spends most of his time at QPR plotting to fire all of the managers."

At press time, Harbaugh had sent Michigan’s athletic department an envelope containing a heavily annotated seating chart, a list of the 63,000 seat views he had found unsatisfactory, and a glowing 70-page report on section 25, row 12, seat 9, which he claimed is “exactly what the great sport of football is all about.”

Got a healthy amount of mail about my travel to the south, so a special mailbag edition. Also you might want to check out MATW's experience at Tennessee.

Brian,

Your visit to Auburn was an enjoyable read. I'm a lifelong Michigan fan who grew up going to games in Ann Arbor. However, I've lived in Atlanta for the last 10 years, and went to grad school at UGA. I have to agree with you that the Auburn fans are very nice (Incidentally, the Alabama fans are putrid). My question is this: What did you think of the tailgating in S.E.C. country? In my mind, this is what separates the SEC from everything I ever experienced in Big Ten country. It's a totally different culture. At Georgia, all the girls wear red and black sun dresses, and all the guys come wearing shirts and ties. And at the tailgate, fans of both teams tend to mingle throughout the day.

There's also something to be said about tailgating in November when it's not so cold you want to stay in your car the entire game.

Tom Atlanta

The main difference between tailgating at Auburn and tailgating at Michigan is that the tailgate at Auburn mostly took place in nicer environs. Michigan Stadium is farther away from campus and the area surrounding it is densely packed with buildings. The green stuff is all on campus. Jordan-Hare is much closer to campus and is in a much less densely populated city (Ann Arbor is more than four times as dense as Auburn) so there's way more space to pack 20,000 fewer people. Result: we wandered around campus and saw a ton of people enjoying the extensive green spaces that comprise the Auburn campus. At Michigan, if you're not on the golf course you're probably tailgating over asphalt.

As far as the culture of tailgating goes, I didn't see that much out of the ordinary. There was one crawfish boil and they seem to have their TV business together better—all those late starts make it more worthwhile—but it was mostly the usual. I hear from more experienced travelers that Auburn's tailgate scene is not amongst the SEC's more mindblowing.

Some other mail from folks; these aren't really questions but are further insights into the culture down there:

Brian- Enjoyed your recap of your trip to Auburn and the differences between M football and an SEC experience. Have been to the Jordan-Hare twice and enjoyed the experience both times. Wanted to share something with you regarding the "hype" guy that I witnessed first hand on the sidelines when UB played Auburn and got thumped in '06.

I found it entertaining that he was wearing a QB play book wrist band that included all of his chants he would refer to depending on the game situation. Especially funny when the chants for the most part consist of something lame like "Come on Auburn - get that ball. Get that ball - get that ball".

Found the experience of the student section to be quite different from Michigan's. First of all the gameday attire is completely different. Every dude has a shag hair cut, khakis, white shirt and a blue and orange striped tie. Meanwhile all of the girls are tan and wearing summer dresses. Also, the entire section reeks of Southern Comfort. Keep up the good work and Go Blue!

I did notice the sundresses. They were mostly shapeless items that made the wearer look a little like they were wearing a burlap sack with a couple spectacular exceptions.

Brian,

Much like you I spent a weekend in Auburn last year for the USF/Auburn game. I am a graduate of USF and am enjoying their current rise in the polls albeit a shaky one after that FIU game. Born in Detroit, lifelong Wolverine fan, etc. I enjoyed the game at Auburn last year and my wife and I had seats right next to where that eagle gets released. The fans weren’t too bad (especially cause they thought they would give USF a proper beating and be done with them) save the one dude who chucked a table over his balcony after the game in drunken disgust.

But, having gone to quite a few Michigan games in the past I felt that Michigan’s crowd had a different feel. The Auburn faithful always seem to be waiting for the bottom to drop out whereas Michigan fans during the Lloyd era had grown complacent with the boring offense and expected superior talent to rule alone. If I had he chance to do it again I’d scoop it up in an instant. It was a classy town with some good football and good fans. Despite the High and Mightyness of the SEC, Auburn did football right. (Now UF games, on the other hand, are full of toothless heathens and half-tards). Hope you enjoyed the trip.

Regards, A loyal reader. Mark Lennox

I did notice the crowd aura was different, and I think that was a major reason I had my weird moment of cognitive dissonance when I, the damn Yankee, was the lone stander in my section. Auburn fans seemed like they were waiting for LSU to do it again, and didn't want to get their hopes up.

In that vein:

Just to clarify…the upper deck experience vs. the lower deck experience is two different animals. I used to have season tickets in the upper deck and I would rather sit in the endzone of the lower deck and be “part of the game” vs. having better view in the upper deck with less experience. You can’t even hear the bands or interact with the cheers in the upper deck. You also typically have an older crowd in the upper deck. Anyway, it was still a great game and a great atmosphere (I got tickets in the east upper deck for the game). You also missed out on LSU’s band, which has the best songs/cheers in college football, IMO.

Jeff

So, right: my experience might have been muted by distance and all that.

Glad you had a fun time at the Auburn game. I'm born and raised in Chicago, and a huge, huge Michigan football fan. I get to as many games as I can every year, and average, I don't know, maybe 6-7 games a season between home and away games (not a season ticket holder). I recently got engaged to a southern born and raised, SEC girl named Cara. She attended Auburn. Her dad and step-mom, and her aunts and uncles all are season ticket holders. I was fortunate to see two Tigers' games last year; @ Arkansas and home against Alabama (Iron Bowl, ridiculously fun time). I came away with pretty much the same opinions as you. The one that sticks out the most though, is Michigan's need for a gigantic HD video board. I was blown away by that thing. Holy crap it's awesome.

Well, that's about it..... oh, get down to Auburn or Alabama one year for the Iron Bowl. YOU WON'T REGRET IT!!!!

GO BLUE!

Jeff

I don't think that can be repeated enough: we need a freakin' enormous HD video board. Michigan's problem when it comes to acquiring one will be the no advertising policy. As mentioned, at Auburn the scoreboard had a sizeable number of ads—though it wasn't as bad as Ohio State's—and would occasionally dupe you into watching something about protecting this house. Texas's Godzillatron is also heavily subsidized by advertising. Michigan would have to swallow the entire cost itself.

Note: All videos will pop up in a window and stream if you have javascript enabled.

Note 2: I provide +/- for offensive players here but don't track it like I do for defenders. I'm thinking about trying that again—didn't work so great the first time—but right now they're just indications of things I thought were good or bad plays from the players in question.

Ln

Dn

Ds

O Form

D Form

Type

Play

Player

Yards

M9

1

10

Shotgun 3-wide

Nickel

Pass

Zone read bubble(?)

Mathews

7

Safety comes up late to provide a third guy in the box; Michigan runs the zone read and Threet keeps it as he sees the DE crashing down. Playside LB is Crum, unblocked; when he comes up to tackle Threet throws to Mathews. Mathews(+1) does a good job of picking up significant yards after contact. (CA, 3, screen) Not sure what to term this because it's not really a bubble screen since there's no one to block.

M16

2

3

Shotgun 3-wide

Nickel

Run

Zone read stretch

McGuffie

5

Molk and Moosman double the playside DT; Schilling(+1) does a good job reading the DE's upfield flight and shoving him up and out of the play. With Crum shooting backside to contain Michigan just has to deal with one LB and a filling safety; McGuffie just runs outside the LB; Butler(-1) whiffs on the safety, forcing McGuffie to head outside and into the traffic caused by two wide receivers blocking two corners. Odoms(+1) did a good job with his larger opponent, FWIW.

M21

1

10

Shotgun 3-wide

Nickel

Run

Zone read dive

McGuffie

11

This time the non-Crum LB is lined up to the zone read rollout side; he blitzes. ND appears to be expecting a stretch, as it moves a safety up in the box; Michigan runs it up the gut. Good blocks by the entire left side of the line (+1 for all!) move the LOS downfield a yard or two and give McGuffie the ability to smoothly cut into the outside lane. Meanwhile, the nickel corner is busy defending the bubble screen fake and McGuffie has acres. If he can make Bruton miss he's gone; he can't.

M32

1

10

Ace 3-wide

Nickel

Run

Dive

McGuffie

-2

Odoms coming around in motion as a potential pitchman. Clear screwup by the OL here as Molk immediately heads to the second level and Moosman allows the DT to slant inside, as he expects Molk to pick him up. IMO, the idea is for Moosman to shove the DT over to Molk. As it is, the unblocked DT is into the backfield and McGuffie slips trying to cut.

Evidence of the screwup: after the play, Moosman barks at Molk.

M30

2

12

Shotgun 3-wide

Nickel

Pass

Stop

Butler

5 (Pen -15)

Threet comes down to Butler, and Rodriguez is totally correct about this play: the guard was not engaged whatsoever with the ND player. (CA, 3, protection 2/2)

M15

2

27

Shotgun 3-wide

Nickel

Pass

Swing

Minor

-6

The disastrous swing pass fumble. 1) it makes no sense to me that this play would be designed to be a lateral. The risk is obvious and the upside is zero. IMO: execution error by Threet to throw it so soon; Minor would be ahead of him if he waited an extra second. 2) It's a little high and a little behind Minor, but dude he gets both hands on it in a pretty easy position. (IN, 3, screen)

Kuntz is lined up slightly to the playside of Schilling(-1) and burrows inside him, directly into the path of McGuffie. Moosman help expected? Doesn't look like it.

M12

2

12

Shotgun Empty

Nickel

Pass

Flare

McGuffie

1

Looks like they're trying to stretch ND horizontally as five guys run little stop routes. Threet picks McGuffie's flare; the corner comes up too fast for him to make anything out of it. Had to get rid of the ball because an unblocked blitzer was on the way. (CA, 3, protection 0/1, team -1)

M11

3

11

Shotgun 3-wide

3-3-5 Nickel

Pass

Skinny post

Mathews

16

Minor's flare route momentarily gets the LB to freak out, providing a small window in which this skinny post can fit; Threet gets it over the linebacker and into Matthews. (DO, 2, protection 2/2) Quality throw into a tight spot.

M27

1

10

Shotgun 3-wide

Nickel

Run

Zone read stretch

McGuffie

11

Michigan is wiping out the backside LB and DE here just with the zone read stuff, which allows Molk and Moosman to again double the playside DT. Schilling(+1) shoves the DE upfield again and McGuffie heads through the same hole he did before. Now he slows up a bit, allowing the double to gain more ground and engulf the linebacker; Carson Butler(+1) does get a thumping block on a safety, eventually pancaking him. McGuffie into the secondary again where Bruton is the last man.

M38

1

10

Shotgun 3-wide

Nickel

Run

Zone read stretch

McGuffie

4

Very similar to the last play except Butler takes the DE as Schilling heads downfield. The DE holds his ground and discards Butler(-1), closing down an otherwise gaping hole as the same double(+1 Mo&Mo) on the NT again swept up a linebacker; Schilling(-1) whiffed his block on the safety, too.

M42

2

6

Shotgun 3-wide

Nickel

Pass

Stop

Stonum

5

Zone read fake and they get a corner blitzing right off the intended receiver. Threet stands in and hits his guy, though he stared him down and drew the safety right to him, making this a tough catch for Stonum. Note: McGuffie was tasked with cutting an unblocked defensive end, which... yeesh. He is not a good pass blocker at this point. Note2: You send Butler on a seam here and it's major yardage except for the dodgy McGuffie blocking. Maybe something to return to in the future with Minor. (CA, 2, protection 1/2, McGuffie -1)

Slightly different with Schilling and Butler doubling the DE and only a momentary double on the NT before Moosman(+1) peels into the second level. Molk gets driven back and McGuffie has to step through a diving tackle attempt; once he's through he's got a gaping cavernous hole to the outside that he misses, instead shooting upfield into a pursuing DT that McAvoy(-1) delayed but did not fully cut.

O43

2

8

Shotgun 3-wide

Nickel

Pass

PA Fly

Mathews

Inc

M knows they've got one on one coverage outside and they go after it. Mathews has like half a step on his guy – no Manningham he – but does a spectacular job of tracking it over his shoulder and making a diving grab. It does appear the nose of the ball impacts the ground, but this is so close it was going to stand either way. If you put a gun to my head I'd say it's incomplete. (CA+, 1, protection 2/2)

O43

3

8

Shotgun Empty

3-3-5 Nickel

Pass

Jailbreak screen

McGuffie

2

Looks like ND's got the right play on here and Crum's looking for this from the snap. He's out to McGuffie too fast to be avoided. I wonder if this should be run further inside? Michigan's linemen have no shot at getting out on this. (CA, 3, screen.)

O41

3

6

Shotgun 3-wide

3-3-5 Nickel

Pass

Wheel

Odoms

Inc

Ugh: Butler is a million years wide open on a simple dumpoff after faking a pass block and releasing. Instead, Threet goes for the Odoms wheel, on which he's open by a good step and a half; it's underthrown badly and Odoms can't make the adjustment. (IN, 1, protection 2/2)

Drive Notes: Turnover on downs, 0-14, 5 min 1st Q.

Ln

Dn

Ds

O Form

D Form

Type

Play

Player

Yards

M25

1

10

Shotgun 3-wide

Nickel

Run

ISQD

Brown

0

ND walks a safety up; Schilling can't get out on the linebacker and he takes out Minor; Brown is forced to cut up; can we just abandon this until we can run something else out of this formation?

M25

2

10

Shotgun 3-wide

Nickel

Pass

Stop

Savoy

Inc

Threet misses the linebacker and rifles a ball he needed to float over the guy; he drops the interception. (BR, 0, protection 2/2)

M25

3

10

Shotgun 4-wide

3-2-6 Dime

Pass

Comeback

Mathews

16

Moosman gives a bit too much ground and Threet ends up stepping into him, which makes the throw a bit inaccurate; Mathews(+1) drove off his guy to get separation, then makes an excellent diving catch to keep the drive alive. (CA, 1, protection 1/2, Moosman -1)

M41

1

10

Shotgun 4-wide

Nickel

Run

Zone read stretch

Minor

9

Moosman(+1) bursts into the DT, knocking him back by himself and eventually pancaking him. Schilling(-1) is essentially beaten by the ND DE, but Minor(+1) runs through his tackle and into the secondary. Diving tackle from the LB brings him to a halt eventually.

50

2

1

Shotgun Trips

Nickel

Pass

Bubble screen

Odoms

14

Michigan knows they have this with the nickelback lined up inside of Odoms and well inside of Butler. Butler(+1) and Savoy(+1) get a couple of good downfield blocks and move the chains. (CA, 3, screen)

O36

1

10

Shotgun 2-back

Nickel

Run

Zone read stretch

Minor

-4

ND blitzes Bruton—well timed—and McGuffie(-1) whiffs his block. Not a huge fan of having Minor and McGuffie in there with McGuffie a lead blocker.

O40

2

14

Shotgun 2-back

Nickel

Pass

Flare screen

McGuffie

40

Not sure what to call this one either: McGuffie goes in motion just before M snaps the ball, which makes this playcall seem pretty obvious. It's too late for ND to back out of their call, though, which his a zone blitz that sees the nickel corner and the LB nearest McGuffie blitz themselves out of the play. Odoms gets a good block, as does Schilling. Crum had to overrun the play to get the ball back inside and does; McGuffie cuts past one linebacker and picks up a convoy of blockers ten yards downfield. He spins off one of his own linemen and sort of jogs into the endzone. (CA, 3, screen)

Drive Notes: Touchdown, 7-21, 2 min 1st Q.

Ln

Dn

Ds

O Form

D Form

Type

Play

Player

Yards

M27

1

10

Shotgun 2-back

Nickel

Run

Zone read stretch

McGuffie

29 + 15

For a while this looks like it's not going to develop but at the last moment just enough of a crease opens up between Molk(+1) and McAvoy, single blocking the playside DE and DT. Meanwhile, Dorrestein(+1) has plowed Crum out of the play. Once McGuffie is through the crease he's jetting. Bruton again shoves him out. Notre Dame picks up a weak personal foul well after the play.

O29

1

10

Shotgun Trips

Nickel

Pass

Bubble screen

Odoms

-9

The ND corner reads this and jumps it before Michigan even throws it. Good play from him; risky if we fake it. Odoms actually spins out of the tackle attempt, but only manages to lose five more yards as a result (CA, 3, screen)

O38

2

19

Shotgun 2-back

Nickel

Run

Zone read stretch

McGuffie

10

Grady in as the other RB and used as a lead blocker. ND blitzes a linebacker who gets picked up by Molk(+1) and as the play stretches to the sideline McGuffie just squeezes through the small crease between Moosman and Schilling; McGuffie runs through the tackle of the backside DT. Once Molk picked up the blitzing LB and that crease showed up there was no one between McGuffie and the secondary.

O29

3

9

Shotgun 2-back

Nickel

Pass

Scramble

Threet

23

Both backs stay in; Threet can't find anyone open downfield but notices that there's no one between him and the goal line and takes off on a Navarre-esque buffalo ramble. (TA, N/A)

O6

1

G

Shotgun 2-back

Base 4-3

Run

Zone read stretch

McGuffie

0

McGuffie forced to cut back as there's obviously not going to be a crease on the frontside; Moosman(-1) helps Molk shove the backside DT downfield on a momentary double, but then, weirdly, peels back to try to block the backside DE, who's already been cut to the ground by Schilling. When Molk passes off his guy to block Crum he becomes unblocked instead of having Moosman in his face and McGuffie's cutback ends with a faceful of DT. Moosman doesn't peel back here and this is probably McGuffie heading to the corner for a TD.

O6

2

G

I-Form Big

Base 4-3

Pass

Waggle

Butler

Inc

Iso fake into a waggle rollout and Threet has two guys in his face immediately. Not a fan of this playcall as it's a pretty obvious one. Threet chucks one off his back foot to Butler, who is sort of open if he can put it in the right place; he can't. Tough throw. (IN, 0, protection N/A)

O6

3

G

Shotgun 4-wide

Nickel

Pass

Jailbreak screen

Babb

0

Good playcall for the situation as ND is blitzing and all Michigan has to do is pick off one guy with Moosman and it's an easy touchdown. Unfortunately, Threet throws this too far outside, forcing Babb to come to a stop and robbing Moosman of the angle he needs to block the guy. Babb needs to be moving when he catches this ball. (IN, 3, screen)

Drive Notes: FG(23), 10-21, 12 min 2nd Q.

Ln

Dn

Ds

O Form

D Form

Type

Play

Player

Yards

M40

1

10

Shotgun Trips

Nickel

Pass

Bubble screen seam

Stonum

20

M fakes the bubble screen to exploit the over-aggressive ND corners; this gets Stonum a window of opportunity down the sideline as both corners bite on it. Stonum ends up having to dive for this ball but I think it's actually perfectly thrown and it was only a Stonum stumble when he made the fake block on the DB that makes this a difficult, diving catch. (DO, 2, protection 2/2)

O40

1

10

Shotgun 2-back

Nickel

Pass

Zone read bubble

Odoms

7

Threet goes with a zone read keeper for a bit, again deciding to toss it out to Odoms on the perimeter when he gets shut down. The ball is actually significantly behind Odoms and he has to make a leaping catch, then pirouette. He's one-on-one with a corner and nearly beats him before being tackled by his armband. (CA-, 2, screen)

O33

2

3

Shotgun 2-back

Nickel

Run

Zone read stretch

McGuffie

6

DE shoots inside on this one, driving McAvoy back a bit but stumbling, at which point McAvoy buries him. This naturally leaves a sizeable crease; Molk's guy gets playside of him but the backside pursuit ran upfield at the snap and out of the play. McGuffie into the secondary, where McCarthy brings him down.

O27

1

10

Shotgun 2-back

Nickel

Run

Triple option dive

Grady

1

Good stunt gets a DE into the hole unblocked; Schilling(-1) beaten by his guy, and Grady has nowhere to go as the two converge.

O26

2

9

Shotgun 2-back

3-2-6 Dime

Pass

Slant

Stonum

10

Odoms runs a bubble screen route, which gets the short zone defender to come up on it and opens up a window for this slant. Threet is a little out in front of this one, again taking Stonum off his feet. (CA-, 2, protection 2/2)

O16

1

10

Shotgun 2-back

Nickel

Run

Zone read stretch

McGuffie

-1 (Pen + 8)

McGuffie tackled by his facemask, which draws no flag from the side judge staring right the F at him. An umpire finally throws the flag. If not for the facemask this probably gets 2-4 yards; hard to tell.

O8

1

G

Shotgun 2-back

Nickel

Run

Zone read stretch

McGuffie

2

Safety comes up late and blitzes hard, taking out Grady and forcing McGuffie to head outside. Dorrestein doesn't have an angle on the LB and Odoms isn't prepared for the play to break outside so McGuffie has two guys to deal with. It looks like he's trying to stutter-step and head outside the corner when the LB closes him down.

O6

2

G

Shotgun 2-back

Nickel

Run

Triple option dive

Grady

6

Triple option fake holds the unblocked playside DE and blitzing safety outside; Dorrestein(+1) blows up Crum and McAvoy has an easy angle to block the playside DT. Then it's just up to Grady(+2), and he impressively carries the other ND LB into the endzone.

Drive Notes: Touchdown, 17-28, 5 min 2nd Q.

Ln

Dn

Ds

O Form

D Form

Type

Play

Player

Yards

M26

1

10

Shotgun 2-back

Nickel

Run

Zone read stretch

McGuffie

11

McAvoy(+1) and Molk(+1) double the playside DT, driving him back, and the playside DE gets upfield. Big holes. Problem: backside DT was not effectively blocked, as Moosman just sort of pushed the guy a bit, then moved downfield, as Schilling(-1) fails to cut him. McGuffie runs through his arm tackle and is into the secondary.

M37

1

10

Shotgun 2-back

Nickel

Run

Zone read stretch

McGuffie

0

Playside DE manages to slice between McAvoy and Dorrestein this time, forcing a cutback. With the DT being wrestled to the ground by Molk – holding for sure – there's a gap, except that Schilling's(-1) guy has come around the outside of him and tackles. Schilling needs to hold that block just a little longer.

M37

2

10

Shotgun 3-wide

Nickel

Pass

Yakety Sax

Threet

-8

Fumbles as he tries to throw. Not charted.

M28

3

18

Shotgun 3-wide

Nickel

Pass

Fly

Mathews

Inc

Not exactly the world's most shocking throw with a freshman QB on third and 18, so the DB is running the WR's route for him. Mathews is more defender than receiver. (BR, 1, protection 2/2)

Drive Notes: Punt, 17-28, 2 min 2nd Q.

Ln

Dn

Ds

O Form

D Form

Type

Play

Player

Yards

M10

1

10

Shotgun 2-back

Nickel

Run

Zone read stretch

McGuffie

3

Massive cutback lane momentarily looks available as the WLB has kept contain on the zone read and the weakside DE got cut; unfortunately, McAvoy(-1) can't control Williams, so he can't take it. The frontside looks jammed up until the Moosman-Molk double begins blowing guys off the ball; McGuffie appears to have a lane until Williams tracks him down.

M13

2

7

Shotgun 3-wide

Nickel

Run

Zone read stretch

McGuffie

17

ND sends a safety late and there are two guys flying upfield at Threet at the snap; he hands off. Dorrestein(+1) blows his DE downfield, opening up a massive cutback lane McGuffie takes into the secondary. Good vision from McGuffie.

M30

1

10

Shotgun 3-wide

Nickel

Run

Zone read dive

McGuffie

6

Decent-to-good one-on-one block from McAvoy on the interior; the ND DT takes a wrong step, allowing Schilling to seal him off; McGuffie sets up his blockers and then shoots into a gap for a decent gain. A little bit better block from McAvoy and maybe he's more comfortable cutting it to Moosman, who's getting a second level block, and into the secondary.

M36

2

4

Shotgun 2-back

Nickel

Run

Zone read stretch

Grady

-2

One of the rare times Michigan's consistent double-teaming of the playside DT doesn't end up with that DT well downfield; this time he gets good push on Moosman(-1). Ethan Johnson shoots inside of Molk(-1), too; Grady(-1) looks at all this and decides to cut back instead of head outside like he should; all this slicing up had left the outside wide open and that's where his lead blocker was going.

M34

3

6

Shotgun 2-back

Nickel

Pass

Stop

Mathews

Inc

Excellent blitz pickup and protection from the line. Threet finds an open receiver and throws an ugly duck out to him—rain. Mathews flat drops it. There was a DB making it a little tough and the aforementioned rain, but this is a drop. (CA, 2, protection 3/3)

Drive Notes: Punt, 17-28, 10 min 3rd Q.

Ln

Dn

Ds

O Form

D Form

Type

Play

Player

Yards

M20

1

10

Shotgun 2-back

Nickel

Run

Zone read stretch

McGuffie

-1

Playside DT is not effectively doubled this time as McAvoy(-1) just sort of glides along and Molk attempts to hold his man off. Molk gets shoved back into McGuffie; Grady(-1) is being used as a lead blocker and uselessly starts futzing with the DE instead of trying to deal with Bruton, brought up as another man in the box.

M19

2

11

Shotgun 4-wide

Nickel

Run

Throwback screen

Mathews

8

Looks like the McGuffie flare again until Threet whips around and tosses a throwback screen to Mathews. Weakside LB was responsible and tracks Mathews down but not before a sizable chunk. (CA, 3, screen)

M27

3

3

Shotgun 2-back

Nickel

Pass

Wheel

Odoms

34

Odoms gets a step on his pressing defender; Threet lays it in beautifully. (Odoms is down on this, BTW, you can see his knee skidding on the turf.) (DO, 2, protection 2/2)

O39

1

10

Shotgun 3-wide

Nickel

Run

Zone read dive

McGuffie

13

One DT is slanting to what would be the playside of a stretch and erases himself. McAvoy is dealing with the other; looks like he falls or something. Molk(-1) does not effectively block the MLB; he misses the tackle and McGuffie is into the secondary. Scary, certain injury tackle is miraculously non-damaging.

O26

1

10

Shotgun 2-back

Nickel

Run

Zone read stretch

Shaw

3

Playside DE ends up stunting behind both DTs and holy cow Shaw should shoot this outside for mondo yardage. He does not, choosing to cut up, and I can't fault that too much because Johnson's been shot backwards and it looks like a sizable gap before the backside DT closes it down. Need just a little better blocking from McAvoy(-1).

O23

2

7

Shotgun 2-back

Nickel

Run

Zone read stretch

Shaw

2

MLB shoots into the gap between the DTs; frontside again doubled and backside is cut; this is dangerous but ND rolled up a safety to act as a third linebacker. The charging MLB causes Grady to peel back and get a block-ish thing on him, but not really. Shaw hesitates in a sort of stutter-step which does nothing but give the MLB time to close. If Shaw just takes it hard outside he might be able to get past the guy. Slowed by the arm tackle, a couple players converge to tackle Shaw.

O21

3

5

Shotgun 3-wide

Nickel

Pass

Wheel

Odoms

Inc (Pen +15)

Same play we saw earlier in the drive. Odoms again has a step; this time Threet throws it way, way too far inside. Fortunately, the DB gets one of those PI penalties when the receiver is trying to adjust to the ball and the DB runs him over. (IN, 0, protection 2/2)

O6

1

G

Shotgun 3-wide

Nickel

Run

Zone read stretch

1

McAvoy fails to cut the backside DT and Notre Dame is, of course, crashing hard on this. Your standard double is blowing back one DT and Grady(+1) gets a good block on the MLB; it looks like there's a crease for McGuffie to cut into. Maybe the backside DT flowing down the line convinces him to head outside; he gets strung out.

O5

2

G

Shotgun 3-wide

Nickel

Run

Zone read dive

Grady

2

I'm not even mad about this fumble. It's perhaps the most understandable of his career. He's wrapped up by three different guys, his forward progress has been stopped for like three seconds, and he's got both hands on a soaking wet ball. It gets ripped out. That's life.

Drive Notes: Fumble, 17-28, 3 min 3rd Q.

Ln

Dn

Ds

O Form

D Form

Type

Play

Player

Yards

M47

1

10

Shotgun 3-wide

Nickel

Pass

Yakety Sax

--

--

Well, that's not good.

Drive Notes: Fumble(TD return), 17-35, 14 min 4th Q.

Ln

Dn

Ds

O Form

D Form

Type

Play

Player

Yards

M30

1

10

Shotgun 2-back

Nickel

Run

Zone read stretch

McGuffie

-1

Notre Dame all over this as they blitz a corner; this allows the rest of the line to slant against the grain and into the backfield without losing outside contain. The corner comes up and tackles.

M29

2

11

Shotgun 2-back

Nickel

Pass

Wheel

Odoms

Inc

Good blitz pickup from the line; Threet finds Odoms running wide open as Stonum's run the coverage off. He throws a high-trajectory duck—bet it slipped—that Odoms tracks to the sideline. It goes right through his hands. (CA-, 3, protection /2/2)

M29

3

11

Shotgun 4-wide

3-3-5 Nickel

Run

QB Draw

Threet

9

Play basically works but this is Steven Threet and he's not likely to make the safety miss.

Drive Notes: Punt, 17-35, 13 min 4th Q. For the record, you can't punt here on fourth and two down three scores.

Dorrestein(-1) blown back and controlled by the DE; DE's diving tackle attempt on McGuffie is stepped through. McGuffie steps through another tackle attempt, spins through a third tackle, and almost spins through a forth. Whee!

O16

2

6

Shotgun Empty

Nickel

Pass

Out

McGuffie

4

McCarthy on this immediately. (CA, 3, protection 1/1)

O12

3

2

Shotgun 3-wide

Nickel

Pass

Hitch

Butler

Int

This is on Butler, IMO, who doesn't run his route quickly enough and lets the ball go through his hands. Sheridan did throw it too high, I guess. (CA-, 2, protection 1/1)

Yeah, how about that? Despite throwing away six separate drives Michigan managed to rack up 350 yards in a game that was half monsoon. McGuffie consistently gashed the ND defense and it was only David Bruton and Kyle McCarthy—who were both excellent—preventing Michigan from ripping off some huge runs.

Remember the infinitely depressing chart of throws past the line of scrimmage from the Miami game? It got better. Threet downfield:

QB

DO

CA

IN

BR

TA

BA

PR

Miami

-

-

4

-

-

-

-

Notre Dame

3

7

3

2

1

-

-

This isn't Chad Henne at his best or anything—one of those BRs should have been a terrible interception—but it could have been Chad Henne on a mediocre day, which seemed an impossible dream two weeks ago.

HOWEVA, the numbers in the chart obscure some miscues:

Threet fumbled twice without being touched by a Notre Dame player. He fumbled in similar fashion against Miami and now has three in about two games of action, only one of which occurred in a monsoon. This is still likely to be a fluky coincidence, but last year at this time we were telling ourselves that Ryan Mallett would surely figure out how to take a snap from under center.

There were two major issues on screens. The Minor swing pass was obviously one; the other was the third-and-five jailbreak screen to Babb that was thrown way too far outside. If Threet makes that simple throw, Schilling whacks the safety and Babb walks in.

Add those in and the performance weakens considerably.

Even so, that was a massive step forward from Threet, a performance virtually any freshman would be pleased with. Threet was confident, mostly accurate, and mostly right. Mental mistakes were limited to a couple of open receivers he passed up for more difficult throws and that one pass that should have been intercepted. (The other BR was a fly route on third and long which would have been a punt if intercepted.) He looked like a viable quarterback now and for the future.

The –1s didn't result in a throwaway—the one pass labeled TA was actually a 23-yard Threet scramble—or PR or sack; Threet was hardly touched all day on 16 downfield attempts.

This probably says more about Notre Dame's defense than the offensive line, unfortunately.

Receiverchart:

This Game

Totals

Player

0

1

2

3

0

1

2

3

Clemons

-

-

-

-

2

-

-

2/2

Stonum

-

-

3/3

-

3

0/2

3/3

2/2

Mathews

-

1/3

1/2

1/1

3

2/4

1/2

4/5

Hemingway

-

-

-

-

1

0/1

2/2

-

Odoms

0/1

1/1

4/5

1

0/1

2/2

11/12

Babb

-

-

1/1

1/1

-

-

1/1

1/1

Massey

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

Butler

1

-

0/1

1/1

2

1/1

0/1

2/2

Webb

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

McGuffie

-

-

-

3/3

2

-

-

8/8

Shaw

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

3/3

Minor

-

-

-

1/1

1

0/1

-

2/2

Moundros

-

-

-

-

2

-

-

-

A pretty good day from the receivers in a pounding rain, with balls dug out by Stonum and Mathews—Mathews would have been 2/3 on circus catches if that razor-thin review had gone the other way—and only a couple drops.

Clemons is getting killed by the lack of depth in the slot and Odoms' emergence; Mathews appears to be the #1 outside receiver with Stonum just behind him.

We seem to be getting some stuff added to the offense.

A number of plays made their Michigan debut and look like solid additions:

The zone read keeper that turns into a long handoff WR screen as Threet approaches the line. This is a clear reaction to Threet's lack of wiggle; he now has the option to chuck it if the opponent has kept contain.

Martavious Odoms was sent on wheel routes three times with good results: one 34-yard completion, one pass interference call, and one fourth-and-two incompletion. On all of them, he was open. If Threet can throw this more consistently it could be a money play.

A bubble screen fake that morphs into a slant from the outside receiver. Michigan ran this twice and completed both passes for decent yardage.

McGuffie!

Yes, McGuffie, but also the offensive line. Michigan had great success with the zone stretch and occasional dive because Molk and either McAvoy or Moosman spent the day crushing the playside DT downfield. With good kickouts from the tackles and Notre Dame defenders keeping contain on Threet, McGuffie got into the secondary time and again.

Back to Karate Dynamite: McGuffie's most impressive trait against Notre Dame was his vision. When there was a cutback, he took it. When he needed to be patient and wait for the crease to open up, he waited. When he needed to spin around and stuff, he did that, sometimes multiple times on one play.

You could see the difference when Shaw came in: on both of his rushes Shaw had the opportunity to make more yards if he made decisive cuts outside. Instead he cut up or hesitated and had to settle for minor gains.

Heroes?

Molk, Moosman, and McAvoy consistently blew up the interior of the Notre Dame defense. McGuffie, of course, and Threet.

Goats?

Also Threet, as he provided Notre Dame with a short field and a free touchdown. Butler missed a few blocks (but also made a few) and didn't get his head around quickly enough on Sheridan's first interception.

There wasn't much disappointment to go around. The offense could have been better but everyone performed pretty well.

What does it mean for Wisconsin?

It means we've got a shot. I'm skeptical about the Notre Dame defense but they did a decent job against Javon Ringer until a back-breaking 63-yard run late in the fourth quarter that wouldn't have happened if the ND defense wasn't forced into a hyper-aggressive stance because of the dwindling time. Even with that long, academic drive at the end, Michigan State ended up gaining approximately what Michigan did. They did that at home in dry conditions.

Wisconsin's defense is probably much better than Notre Dame's but they did give up 350 yards to and get outgained by Fresno State. I know Bruce Ciskie's got a lot of concerns about the team, which we'll explore further in a Vicious Electronic Questioning.

East Carolina's brief run in the top fifteen comes to a crashing halt, though they hang on at the bottom of the poll. Meanwhile, the year of mid-madness continues with poll debuts for TCU and Boise State. With BYU living the high life at #11, there are now four non-BCS teams in the top twenty five with Fresno State on the doorstep.

The rest of the poll is eh about the same: one thing to note is Auburn's relatively minor slide after their loss to LSU.

Wack Ballot Watchdog

I’ve again omitted anything from the resume zealots, such as “Texas #24”. We know the reasons behind these votes and as such they aren’t “wack.”

There’s still not much because we have little data. Extracurriculars after the jump.

Now on to the extracurriculars. First up are the teams which spur the most and least disagreement between voters as measured by standard deviation. Note that the standard deviation charts halt at #25 when looking for the lowest, otherwise teams that everyone agreed were terrible (say, Eastern Michigan) would all be at the top.

Ohio State is now your most disagreed upon team, with votes stretching from #9 to #24; Auburn leaps up after their loss as pollsters bring different punishment philosophies to the table.

Ballot Math

First up are "Mr. Bold" and "Mr. Numb Existence." The former goes to the voter with the ballot most divergent from the poll at large. The number you see is the average difference between a person's opinion of a team and the poll's opinion.

Last week's prediction was that Doctor Saturday would finally relinquish his hold on Mr. Bold, but it is not so. His margin keeps dropping and we do have a couple non-resume guys creeping in finally, but not yet.

Michigan is the hub of Mr. Numb Existence activity this week and we swear it has nothing to do with the widespread use of sedatives in preparation for the Wolverines' Big Ten campaign.

Michigan Sports Center is your winner. MSC is the Walter Cronkite of the Michigan blogosphere, getting you the news more quickly than this blog does and giving you everything with just-the-facts-ma'am efficiency. And hey, he had a clean sweep with his Big Ten predictions last week.

Next we have the Coulter/Krugman Award and the Straight Bangin' Award, which are again different sides of the same coin. The CKA and SBA go to the blogs with the highest and lowest bias rating, respectively. Bias rating is calculated by subtracting the blogger's vote for his own team from the poll-wide average. A high number indicates you are shameless homer. A low number indicates that you suffer from an abusive relationship with your football team.

The CK Award has its first week of fail this year, sparing Utah against a good opponent. As noted last week, Block U's ballot wasn't egregious or anything—margin wasn't huge, BYU was above the Utes, someone else had Utah even higher—but fail is fail.

Prospects don't look good for this week even if it's a double win for Ohio State: OSU is playing Minnesota. Eyyyy Gophers and all that and they are undefeated so far, but… uh… no. We'll see, I guess.

Straight Bangin’ award is Bruce Ciskie's. He's got Wisconsin idling at #17, up one after a bye week. I enjoy Bruce's skepticism because Michigan has to play Wisconsin next week and I'll take any faint hope of victory I can get.

Site note: we've got another post-loss rope-a-dope, this from the Joe Cribbs Car Wash. See what I am saying about this category?

Swing is the total change in each ballot from last week to this week (obviously voters who didn't submit a ballot last week are not included). A high number means you are easily distracted by shiny things. A low number means that you're damn sure you're right no matter what reality says.

After a one-week hiatus for another resume guy to win this award, DocSat picks up Mr.Manic-Depressive again. It's not hard to see why: LSU went from out of the poll to #6, and that was only one in a vast array of changes.

MOOS takes Mr. Stubborn after not re-ordering anyone in its top 14; surely there had to be some change in opinion given the events of the weekend, no?

Part of an erratic series. Check the comments for potential corrections from gsimmons and others who are actual coaches.

Notre Dame didn't have a ton of success running the ball against Michigan, but their performance against Michigan State—2.0 YPC for the running backs—indicates they suck and that any amount of success is disturbing.

Notre Dame's run strategy last Saturday was to double the hell out of the defensive tackles and exploit Michigan's crappy linebacking. Time and again ND would leave Michigan linebackers totally unblocked and still pick up plenty of yards; they did this mostly by crushing Johnny Thompson with their fullback. An example follows.

It's second an nine on ND's first drive of the third quarter; they come out in an offset I and Michigan has their base set on the field.

The play is pure caveman: an iso up the gut. Will Johnson is doubled; this one of the rare times that Taylor doesn't get the double himself. Johnson's holds up decently on the initial play and Jamison isn't upfield so the hole Thompson has to deal with is manageable.

Thompson meets the fullback and makes a critical mistake: he lets the FB get outside of him, losing leverage on the ball and opening up a hole outside. There's no one outside of him: he's the outside linebacker.

Meanwhile, Johnson has slipped and is going to the ground; Ezeh has to watch a cutback lane opened up and is hesitant; he still needs to read the RB's cut faster than he does. (It wouldn't have mattered much because of Thompson's failure to get to the outside shoulder of his blocker.)

Thompson is now getting shoved backwards by the FB, and Johnson is finished getting wiped out. Note that Taylor has beaten his blocker and slid down the line; if Thompson had done his job and funneled the tailback inside there's a good chance he's making a tackle right now.

Thompson did not do his job and is now three yards downfield; Hughes takes it up into a sizable hole, gaining seven. Notre Dame would run the exact same play on second and three, gaining thirteen as Thompson repeats the performance encapsulated here.

This play highlighted a number of themes from the day: Taylor crushed single blocking whenever Notre Dame provided it, which was rarely. Johnson did okay against a wide array of double teams but not great. Thompson was owned by the fullback, and Ezeh was hesitant.

A couple site notes: if you're using IE7 and the text runs off the screen, reload. I don't know why this is happening but it appears to be a temporary issue. Also: I planned on getting one half of UFR up today but I discovered this morning that I can't split either torrent I downloaded, and I can't convert them either. Maybe this is an NBC thing? If anyone can help, please send me an email. If I can't figure it out by tonight I'll put them up sans video.

Press conference newsbits won't appear here this week—I'm running a bit behind after spending large chunks of the last three days in a car—but they are up at Michigan Sports Center.

There is an updated depth chart with a distinct lack of "OR": Threet and McGuffie are your starters in writing now, and the rest of the RBs go like so: Shaw, Minor, Grady, Brown. Savoy has been supplanted by Stonum opposite Mathews; Ortmann and Dorrestein are listed as co-starters at left tackle.

Sigh. The second most annoying statistic on the planet is "red zone efficiency." (#1: time of possession.) It has an arbitrary cutoff point and mostly serves to confirm the idea that not scoring is bad. This does not count as enlightening.

But that's not even the worst part. The worst part is that they don't even calculate it right. The NCAA is now tracking the statistic officially. This is how they do it:

The NCAA grades on a percentage basis, and eight teams have a perfect 1.000. They range from undefeated Oklahoma, which is 18-for-18 with 17 touchdowns and one field goal in three games to winless North Texas, which has reached the opponents' 20 only five times in three games and has three touchdowns and two field goals.

Argh. No, no, no. If you are really attempting to measure who the best teams are when the field shrinks—not a completely crazy thing to do—you probably shouldn't come up with this equation:

TD = FG

AKA "3 = 7." Three does not equal seven. Three equals three.

The current system suggests that Northwestern and Oklahoma are equally proficient at scoring when they get inside the twenty. Sanity notes that Northwestern is acquiring 75% of the maximum points and Oklahoma is acquiring 96% and these are nowhere near equal.

According to a source, redshirt freshman tailback John Clay missed practice time before the players were given off for the bye week and did not practice again Sunday because of an apparent injury.

His status appears uncertain for the Michigan game. The players generally are given Monday off before going through had practices on Tuesday and Wednesday.

PJ Hill and Zach Brown are healthy so it probably won't be much of a factor.

I wave my wand and poof. UMHoops has an extensive recruiting update on the basketball team worth checking out. Michigan is still looking for another 2009 player; anyone they pick up will probably be a low-rated guy destined for role-player-dom. Its 2010 and 2011 where the magic is happening, as articles have been flying back and forth about a trio of big recruits who have Michigan at or near the top of their list: PF Nate Lubick, SG Trey Zeigler, and 2011 combo guard Brandon Kearney.

Lubick and Zeigler are scheduled to visit in the near future; PG commit Darius Morris was supposed to come in for his official at that time too but had to reschedule. Meanwhile, Kearney and Zeigler know each other and talk about attending the same school. Kearney's got ties to both MSU and Michigan—Braylon is his cousin.

And then there's PA SG Cameron Ayers, current the #55 player in the class of 2010 to Rivals:

Morris was the first step, an indication Beilein can acquire high-rated talent, and there are three or four guys who could come in over the next few classes that would put Michigan's talent level on par with anyone in the league. Someone's got to jump first, though.

Michigan has contacted Delaware regarding paying a visit to Ann Arbor for a nonconference game, Keeler said. He added it is unlikely Delaware would be interested, since he would prefer a nonconference schedule concentrating on I-AA home games, which can earn Delaware as much as most I-A road games and give the Hens a much better chance at winning.

I guess the pitch there is "see Michigan play a team that looks just like Michigan! The spring game… except it costs like 80 bucks!"